Archive for December, 2006
I’ve been pretty busy these last couple of days.
My Mom and I went to Marukai on Friday to get some mochi for New Year’s. Marukai is a Japanese wholesale grocery market with all kinds of goodies from Japan. I love that store. They always have a lot of fresh fish and fresh sashimi, even though I don’t eat sashimi.
We have some mochi at home, but we wanted to get some more for New Year’s for our traditional good luck display. We haven’t put it up yet, but I will take some pictures of it when we do. It’s basically a little shrine that is set up with some decorated paper, mochi, ferns and a tangerine. It’s something that we Japanese people like to do for New Year’s. I tried keeping the tradition up while I was on the mainland, but I could usually only find the mochi for it. Doh.
Easting mochi is supposed to bring you good luck in the new year, so we are going to be making some of that tonight too.
After that we headed to Queen’s Supermarket which is a Korean grocery store to get some kalbi for dinner tonight. Short definition - short ribs. I was just excited to go to the Korean store since there is just so much stuff there made with red chili paste - which I completely love. Mmmmm, picante! One thing I really love are the kimchi ramen bowls. I have a whole photo set of them that I will post about later on. I’m on my Mom’s computer right now, so I can’t access them. But, oh those are yummy. The broth is dark red from all of the chili powder. I am also stoked because my Mom got me a whole case of that stuff the last time she went to Sam’s Club. Yay Mom!
Fred and I went for coffee Friday night and then our friend Arlina met us and we headed to a bar. I didn’t drink though since I really am not much of a drinker anymore. The only annoying thing though was that the bar had karaoke and there were a couple of really drunk guys who sang the night away. I guess it wouldn’t have been that bad if the speaker wasn’t right above us, but it was and I started getting a mild anxiety attack after awhile.
Yesterday, Fred, Arlina and I went to go see the Borat movie at the $1 theater. OMFG, it has got to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.
Tonight should be interesting. I am going to head off to my friend Arlene’s house. She lives close enough so I can walk there and get stinking drunk tonight. I suppose it’ll be like a reunion for me since a lot of people there are going to be old friends from elementary and middle school! Yup, we still hang out together. My friend Rodney is going to be there and I’ve known him since kindergarten! I think a couple of her neighbors are also old elementary school classmates of mine, so that should be interesting.
New Year’s in Hawaii is something that everyone who doesn’t have asthma should experience at least once in their life. People here go absolutely bonkers. Fireworks and firecrackers are legal here, well, maybe not the aerial fireworks, but people seem to be able to get them anyway. People started shooting off the aerials right after Christmas actually.
It’s a tradition here to set off firecrackers at midnight to ward off the evil for the new year. I still remember this one year I went over to Rodney’s place for a party and they literally set off 1,000,000 firecrackers! It was awesome!
Well, it’s time for me to start cleaning up for tonight and start getting things in order around here. I hope everyone has a good new year. I certainly hope I do.
December 31st, 2006
I did Get Ripped! by Jari Love as my last official workout of 2006. I really heavied up the weights on the chest presses and used 17 pounds on the barbell. Oooh. I think I felt it more in my arms than my chest though. Doh. While I was doing it, I actually wished I could have used more weight though.
I am happy that I got through the rest of the workout okay. I could even do most of the shoulder work with 3 pound dumbbells! I think I only skipped a couple of reps during that section. Man, my shoulders are really weak and I really need to work on my strength there.
I am really, really, really hoping that Danskin starts to put those weights out again. I mean if they were, this would be the time to release them since a lot of people make those resolutions to get fit and lose weight this time of year.
Right after New Year’s really is the best time to get a lot of fitness bargains since a lot of stores put that stuff on sale because of all the people buying fitness equipment this time of year. Although I do pretty much have all the equipment I need right now. Then again, I could probably go for some heavier dumbbells. I suppose I will go check to see what Sport’s Authority will have on sale after the New Year.
I have also been thinking about getting a bike, but I am not sure about that yet. If I did, I would definitely get a really cheap bike either from K-Mart or WalMart. But whether I get one or not mostly depends on whether I get a job at the State Capitol or at a hospital about a mile away from the house. A bike would certainly make more sense economically since the Bus is $2 one way here! $2! - that’s just crazy.
December 31st, 2006
Well, well, well. Another year is coming to an end. I don’t have much to write about right now as I am pretty tired and would rather recap stuff when I am more fully awake.
I am also kind of distracted by cleaning too - which is a good thing. Now that my Grandma is gone, I just find it so much easier to clean stuff up and most importantly - it’s just so much easier to throw stuff out or donate crap to Goodwill. I think I am finally back to being able to visualize the closet/room into actually being a room and workspace for me.
I am also getting some good tips on some awesome job prospects working at the State Capitol during the legislative session. Right now, I just want to be able to earn enough money to take a trip to Europe either right before or right after my birthday - preferably before.
December 31st, 2006
I am a few days behind on my workout recaps, so this is just going to be short.
I went on the treadmill downstairs for about an hour for my Christmas day workout. I did a couple of interval workouts to make it interesting and well, to give myself a few mini breaks during the workout.
The next day was a rest day for me and a well deserved one at that too.
Wednesday I did Complete Aerobics and Weight Training from the Firm again.
Thursday night I did Buns of Steel 7 - the Step workout. OMG what a blast from the past. I used to do this workout almost daily like, gulp, 10 years ago. Ach! I think I got rid of it when I moved to Arizona, but I found it in the Dollar section at Target awhile ago. Man, I loved the Dollar Spot section at Target - especially since every once in awhile they would have most of the Buns of Steel videos for sale. I remember the first time I saw them there, I picked up like 6 of them - of course I left most of those in Portland, but oh well.
This video is 40 minutes long and is listed as intermediate/advanced, but it really is more beginner/intermediate. The length is one really awesome thing about this workout. It’s like when you look for step workouts they are either 30 minutes long with a warm up and cool down or about an hour or longer. 30 minutes for a workout is pretty short, especially if you are not a beginner exerciser, but an hour is just a little too long if you’re not a high intermediate or advanced exerciser - but 40 minutes - it’s just right.
I got through it alright. I was sweating a bit and my heart rate did get up there, but I felt like such a wimp since I could only do the workout on my 4 inch high step. See when I used to do this before - years ago - I would do it on an 8 inch step and barely break a sweat, so a lot of times I would do a second tape right after this one. Man, I guess I was in pretty good shape back then. Of course I didn’t think I was, but I was!
But, I guess all of this exercising is finally paying off. I think I have finally lost a little weight. I don’t know how much though since I don’t like to weigh myself, I pretty much just like to go by how my clothes are fitting and my clothes are feeling a little looser. Go me!
Of course, it is probably because I am not eating as much since my Grandma is gone. It is really nice not having to make sure that something filling gets cooked everyday since a lot of days I don’t feel like eating during “dinnertime.” Of course, I could have probably lost more weight if we didn’t have all of these Christmas snacks around, but oh well.
I am hoping that I will be able to keep this up after my Grandma gets back.
December 29th, 2006
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